eli5 How does localisation of sensation work? Do the nerves have to be in the right spatial location or is it more an illusion?
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Each finger tip has over 3,000 touch receptors. (We have way more in our feet).
We can feel objects down to 13 nanometers with our fingers. A sheet of paper is 100,000 nanometers thick for reference. Another example from google is if our finger tip was as big as the earth we could feel the difference between houses and cars.
Touch is kinda an illusion but also not. It’s a force from electromagnetism. We have many different nerves and neurons in our brains that are responsible for a lot of the senses and they of course like to work together in one big system called our Nervous System.
Merkel cells found right beneath our epidermis which is the outermost layer of skin is what is responsible for our ability to recognize fine and sharp details in touch. They are at the very tips of the receptor that is responsible for touch.
We kinda just have so many nerves and cells working together that it creates a giant map all over our bodies.
Hope this helps
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